Open data / half-yearly report
Cebu Cost of Living Report — H1 2026
As of H1 2026, electricity in Cebu costs ₱12.57/kWh on the Visayan Electric (VECO) residential all-in rate (2026-04 billing cycle), MCWD water starts at ₱259 for the first 10 cubic metres, and the peso trades at ₱60.69 to US$1 on the BSP reference basis. A single expat renting a Lahug one-bedroom budgets roughly ₱31,759/month before food and transport.
This is the half-yearly synthesis of LiveInPH’s four open Cebu datasets into one figure-checked report. Every number below is read live from the same validated ledger the calculators and charts use, so the report cannot drift from the data it cites. Each line states its source and its date; nothing is back-filled or interpolated.
The four numbers, dated and sourced
| Metric | Figure (H1 2026) | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity — VECO residential all-in | ₱12.57/kWh | 2026-04 | Visayan Electric official, April 2026 cycle |
| Water — MCWD, first 10 cu.m minimum | ₱259 + ₱28.64/cu.m (11–20) | 2026-04 | MCWD via Philstar / The Freeman — final 10% tranche, effective 2026-04-01 |
| FX — BSP reference, USD | ₱60.6910 per US$1 | 2026-05-08 | BSP Reference Exchange Rate Bulletin, 08 May 2026 (Reuters NY close 07 May 2026) |
| Rent — Cebu Rent Index, Lahug 1BR | ₱20,000–₱35,000 (mid ₱27,500) | 2026-05 | LiveInPH editorial baseline (Cebu cost-of-living guide), early 2026 |
Electricity is the volatile line
VECO moves monthly with WESM spot prices, so the rate — not rent — is what makes a Cebu budget swing half-year to half-year. The observed series:
Show the data table
| Billing cycle | ₱/kWh | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Feb–Mar 2025 cycle | ₱11.13 | Philstar / The Freeman |
| Aug–Sep 2025 cycle | ₱11.60 | Philstar / The Freeman |
| Sep–Oct 2025 cycle (2025 peak) | ₱12.51 | SunStar Cebu |
| Oct–Nov 2025 cycle | ₱11.51 | Philstar / The Freeman |
| January 2026 | ₱11.72 | Newsline Philippines (single source — re-verify) |
| February 2026 (+₱0.35) | ₱12.79 | Philstar / The Freeman; SunStar Cebu |
| March 2026 | ₱12.36 | Visayan Electric official (stated in April announcement) |
| April 2026 (+₱0.21) | ₱12.57 | Visayan Electric official |
Rent by neighborhood
The Cebu Rent Index is an honest editorial baseline: low and high are sourced asking ranges, the midpoint is the range midpoint (not an observed median), and the sample size is published as null until a measured listing sample exists — quartiles are deliberately not fabricated from a range.
Show the data table
| Segment | Low | Midpoint | High | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IT Park / Cebu Business Park · Studio | ₱18,000 | ₱26,500 | ₱35,000 | — |
| IT Park / Cebu Business Park · 1BR | ₱25,000 | ₱40,000 | ₱55,000 | — |
| IT Park / Cebu Business Park · 2BR | ₱40,000 | ₱80,000 | ₱120,000 | — |
| Lahug · Studio | ₱14,000 | ₱19,500 | ₱25,000 | — |
| Lahug · 1BR | ₱20,000 | ₱27,500 | ₱35,000 | — |
| Banilad · Studio | ₱12,000 | ₱16,000 | ₱20,000 | — |
| Banilad · 1BR | ₱18,000 | ₱24,000 | ₱30,000 | — |
| Banilad · 2BR | ₱30,000 | ₱47,500 | ₱65,000 | — |
| Banilad · 3BR | ₱50,000 | ₱60,000 | ₱70,000 | — |
| Mabolo · Studio | ₱10,000 | ₱14,000 | ₱18,000 | — |
| Mabolo · 1BR | ₱20,000 | ₱27,500 | ₱35,000 | — |
| Mabolo · 2BR | ₱28,000 | ₱37,000 | ₱46,000 | — |
| Mabolo · 3BR | ₱45,000 | ₱55,000 | ₱65,000 | — |
| Mandaue · Studio | ₱10,000 | ₱14,000 | ₱18,000 | — |
| Mandaue · 1BR | ₱17,000 | ₱26,000 | ₱35,000 | — |
| Mandaue · 2BR | ₱15,000 | ₱17,500 | ₱20,000 | — |
| Capitol / Colon · Studio | ₱5,000 | ₱8,500 | ₱12,000 | — |
| Capitol / Colon · Room | ₱3,500 | ₱5,750 | ₱8,000 | — |
| Talamban · Studio | ₱12,000 | ₱18,500 | ₱25,000 | — |
| Talamban · 1BR | ₱26,000 | ₱30,000 | ₱34,000 | — |
| Talamban · Room | ₱3,500 | ₱5,250 | ₱7,000 | — |
A worked monthly baseline
Hand-reproducible from the figures above, for one reference household with explicit assumptions — not a fabricated “average”:
- Rent — Lahug 1BR midpoint: ₱27,500
- Electricity — 300 kWh × ₱12.57 = ₱3,771
- Water — 18 cu.m = ₱259 (first 10) + 8 × ₱28.64 = ₱488
- Subtotal (housing + utilities): ₱31,759/month — before food, transport, internet, and healthcare.
For a foreign income, that subtotal is $523 at the BSP USD reference of ₱60.69. Reproduce or stress-test it in the cost calculator.
Method, source hierarchy, and the no-fabrication rule that governs every figure here: /methodology. The underlying datasets, with CSV and JSON downloads, are linked from each metric in the table above and catalogued at /data.
Cite this report
LiveInPH. "Cebu Cost of Living Report — H1 2026" (2026-05-19). LiveInPH, https://liveinph.com/data/reports/cebu-cost-of-living-h1-2026. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
Free to reuse, including commercially and by AI systems, on one condition: attribute “LiveInPH, https://liveinph.com” and link this report. Reuse terms: CC BY 4.0. Full provenance: /methodology.
Next edition: Cebu Cost of Living Report — H2 2026 (scheduled ~November 2026). This report is reissued every half-year on its own permalink, so the series itself is the longitudinal record.